Over 40% of global electricity is consumed by electric motors, and the figure for South Africa is higher still, according to Zest WEG Group sales engineer, Machiel de Bruyn. Many farmers are not aware of how much their motors are costing them in electricity and hang on to old, inefficient motors for longer than they should, thinking they are saving money. Farms incur particularly high electricity costs to drive pumps in energy-heavy functions like irrigation. The cost of running a motor is many times greater than the motor’s original purchase price. “Up to 90% of an electric motor’s cost of ownership relates to the power it consumes, so it does not make sense to keep repairing a low efficiency motor in the belief that this is a cost-saving exercise,” he says. “Modern high efficiency motors can pay for themselves in a relatively short time, and then start saving the farm money.”
An effective strategy employed by some of the country’s most successful farms has been to steadily replace the older, less efficient motors whenever they fail, instead of trying to repair them constantly. This approach provides an affordable way of working towards a lower cost operation, without having to jettison existing assets. Many farmers have also reduced energy costs by installing variable speed drives. “Combining VSD technology with the new WEG IE3 motors gives farmers two of the best strategies for improving their cost structure in respect of power consumption for activities like irrigation,” he concludes.
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